• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 15, 2012

It’s not necessarily actual harm, but it’s an uncomfortable feeling that may make you feel like you’re being harmed. That’s the way GroupM Interaction North America COO John Montgomery defined the social media world’s word du jour – you know, creepiness – during a panel discussion on the subject at OMMA Social this morning.

“The data that we collect from consumers really doesn’t do any harm, it’s benign,” Montgomery asserted, adding, however that, “consumers have a ‘Reality Report’ type fear” about the way Madison Avenue collects online data about them.

“It’s the connection between what the real black hats do on the Internet and what the advertising people do that makes people feel creepy,” he said, adding that the Wall Street Journal’s recent “what they know about you” series of reports only threw fuel on the privacy advocacy fire.

Montgomery said “we can whine about it and complain that it’s not fair, but I thik we have to do something about it.” He then alluded that he will make some recommendations later in the panel.